


ruins of a home, of places stayed

by redamancys



Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-19
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-12-24 06:56:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21095276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redamancys/pseuds/redamancys
Summary: You'd think it would get easier each time you watch him fall apart. It never does.Or, Wild is bleeding out and only one of them has accepted it.





	ruins of a home, of places stayed

"S-stop."

"No." 

"_Twilight._" 

“No, okay? I’m trying to save your life.”

Twilight's bloody hands press down harder on the wound beneath them and Wild let's out a choke. He's bitten through his bottom lip at this point to stifle his sounds, ever trying to hide his pain, but Twilight knows it's getting too much for him. _Heard_ how it's getting too much for him and Twilight hates this but refuses to stop stanching the blood that's pooling around his fingers and pouring out of his best friend's body.

He knows that usually, _usually_—and isn't that the sad thing here; that Wild has come and gone so many times that this is so achingly familiar, times he's tried to prevent over and over—how _stop_ should mean _let Mipha bring me back_ and not a begging plea to let him die. He knows that this is all it should be, but somehow it isn't.

This time is different. This time, whatever powers had brought him back it's all too soon for them to do it once again. 

This time, the weight of the word _stop_ sends ice cold fear into his heart. 

"I-it's okay," Wild's voice is rust and ash. Breaking. 

"It's not." 

"_Twi._"

Twilight feels fury and panic and Wild's eyes are too bright, too calm and none of this right. 

Wild is bleeding out too fast and only one of them has accepted it.

"No, let me do this. Let me save you."

There's no comeback. He's not even fighting Twilight anymore and somehow, if possible, that frightens him more than Wild's pleas. There's just a small quirk of Wild's bloody lips and the tilt of his head and the slow drag of his hand that he lifts to hover in front of him.

Then, the world bursts into light.

Everything is blurry and pale blue, blue light and for a moment Twilight is blinded. The brightness slowly recedes and concentrates into a single sphere floating in front of Wild's outstretched palm. 

"This... is yours now," Wild murmurs.

"Wild, what—"

Shakily, Wild places his hand on Twilight's chest and the sphere bursts, light disappearing into him. His hand falls, strength leaving him in a rush. 

"Keep them safe," Wild whispers.

The words have such finality to them, of endings and things left to ruins. Twilight can't help but think of a shield covered in ivy and a broken helm and about things taken too soon. He remembers the remains of a home and of places stayed. 

For Twilight, there is a grief he carries that's a lot like smoke and it's tangible in the form of his mentor; a bright fire snuffed out in a future he tries to forget. If he can, he'll do anything to stop Wild from becoming apart of that collapsed landscape of Hyrule—just another fallen piece left discarded. 

Between breaths, water droplets spring up around him and the air glistens in a dazzling display of reflected light. His hair and wolf pelt stir with a gentle current as if suspended weightless in water but Twilight is too busy to notice or care as his focus in on the half-lidded eyes of Wild that are close to drifting shut completely. 

What he can't ignore is the red, delicate hand placed over his own that's still pressed down on Wild's wound or the warmth that radiates from it or the _glow_. His gaze travels from Wild to the hand and _up_ and then he sees her.

Mipha.

Ghostly and beautiful, hovering next to him. The blue flames adorning her flicker with that same calm current. 

_Her._ The one Wild has said brings him back from the brink and holds him together just a little longer. 

He's reminded then of a Zora queen with those familiar sad, watchful eyes. Same fierce determination to protect those dear to them. 

"Together," she says.

That low warmth travels all the way to his chest now and Twilight realizes then what he must do. What he _can_ do. 

"Together," he echos, never more sure of anything in his life.

He looks down at Wild and see his eyes are closed now, lids paper thin and just as pale.

"Stay with me, Wild. Stay with me this time."


End file.
